The album Sammy Hagar called his peak: “I still love this record today”
Most people can assume a typical baseline of quality when it comes to Sammy Hagar albums. Although he’s not reaching for the same stratospheric notes that he got up to in his glory years, ‘The Red Rocker’ was never known to back down from a challenge whenever he stepped up to the microphone, either. Whereas Hagar hit some of his most significant commercial highs with Van Halen, he thought his songwriting hit a new level sandwiched between his time with the group on I Never Said Goodbye.
Then again, this album is technically not supposed to exist. It has cover art, and it would be sold in record stores worldwide, but Hagar didn’t make it by choice, instead being asked by his record company to put out one more album so that they would fulfil his contractual obligations before moving on to Van Halen.
At the same time, Hagar was already in the trenches working with Van Halen. His last handful of songs with the group produced 5150, and they were on their way to becoming Van Halen Mk. 2 without David Lee Roth. As much as Eddie would have been pissed to hear his singer making a solo record, he couldn’t have been more accommodating.
Not only was Eddie totally fine with Hagar cutting another album, but he actually helped round out the sound, playing bass on most of the album as well. Despite the mental image of seeing someone like Eddie Van Halen being put on bass, Hagar’s solo outing is actually a pretty solid record, putting up decent numbers and letting him close the door on his solo career for a little while.
Looking back on the album, Hagar sees this record as the moment when everything was firing on all cylinders, recalling on Instagram, “I still love this record today. I feel it was elevated by Eddie, playing bass on the whole record; after writing and recording the 5150 record, my songwriting and singing were at a peak.”
Despite the weird timeline of Hagar becoming the leader of Van Halen, I Never Said Goodbye feels like a bridge between both worlds. Since many of the riffs Eddie had come up with for 5150 were being made while Roth was still in the group, Hagar’s influence on later albums like OU812 and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge got its start here, including songs that took on a more songwriter-focused approach to everything.
Then again, there are a few moments where that kind of ambition comes back to bite them. As much as they were focused on making songs that had something to say, the amount of bloat that appeared on albums like Balance was where things started to go a little bit off the rails, leading to the band sacking Hagar or ‘The Red Rocker’ leaving the band depending on who you ask.
Still, I Never Said Goodbye is that kind of chocolate and peanut butter musical combination that seemed right. It may have lacked more of Eddie’s guitar solos, but you wouldn’t find a better sense of groove on any other Hagar project.
